Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 10:2
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly [is] great, but the laborers [are] few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.
2. The harvest truly is great ] Compare Mat 9:37; Joh 4:35.
sendforth ] The word literally means ‘drive forth,’ and though it has lost its full force implies urgency and haste. See similar uses of the word in Joh 10:4, Mat 9:38, Mar 1:12.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See the notes at Mat 9:36-37.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Luk 10:2
The harvest truly is great
The gospel harvest
I.
THE STATE OF THINGS WHICH OUR LORD DESCRIBES.
1. A plenteous harvest.
(1) A great number of souls.
(2) Great diversity in souls.
2. This vast and varied crop is ready for the sickle. This is proved–
(1) By the moral and spiritual necessities of the world. A genuine philanthropist wants no other demand upon his efforts than the misery of His fellow men; and a genuine Christian requires no other proof that men are ready for the gospel than the fact that they need it. Here lay one of the great mistakes of the Church of a former age. She did not think of sending the gospel, because men did not clamour for it.
(2) But if our duty be plain in the presence of silent and uncomplaining woe, how much more when misery is suppliant and clamorous at our feet I The world is now conscious of its maladies; and knows full well what can heal them.
3. The labourers are few. They toil on, willing rather to die than to abandon their work. One and another drops and dies, exclaiming, as did the immortal Waterhouse, more missionaries! more missionaries! and the very heathen repeat and prolong the cry!
II. THE INJUNCTION FOUNDED ON THE ABOVE DESCRIPTION.
1. To whom are our prayers to be addressed? To the Lord of the harvest.
(1) He is the owner and proprietor of the harvest. They are bought with a price. The enemy had usurped possession of the great Creators claim.
(2) And must He not, therefore, take a deep, an unspeakable interest in them? Think you that He can be indifferent whether this harvest is reaped or not?
(3) And it is Gods absolute and inalienable right to choose and employ His labourers.
2. We are called, then, to pray that God would graciously exert His prerogative in the appointment of His own labourers to reap His own fields. What does this prayer imply?
(1) He exerts this prerogative, in part, by the inward operation of His Holy Spirit.
(2) We are to pray, not only that God would call and qualify, but also send out labourers into His harvest. And here we must bare regard to His mode of administration. He does for man what man cannot do for himself, but requires him to do all that is in his power. We cannot give the piety; and the intellectual and spiritual gifts; but it is our duty and privilege to furnish the means for sending the men whom God has raised up.
3. Does any one ask, Why, if God is the Lord of the harvest, having such exclusive prerogatives, and so deeply interested in the matter, He should be entreated to do that which it so nearly concerns His honour not to leave undone? We answer, Such sceptical inquiries become not the position of finite and mortal creatures. The objection would apply to all prayer for any blessing; and call in question the whole administration of heaven. (J. H. James.)
The abundance of the harvest, and the scarcity of the labourers
I. Let us first look at THE HARVEST. It is too vast to be taken within the verge of one short sermon. China, India, Burmah, and Japan, Africa, the West Indies, South America, Russian Tartary, Persia, and the islands of the South Sea–all this is too vast for our consideration at the present opportunity.
II. THE LABOURERS. The labourers are few. Let us consider–
III. THE SAVIOURS PLAN FOR INCREASING THE NUMBER OF THE LABOURERS.
1. We observe in the first place, that where persons offer this prayer in sincerity, they make a solemn acknowledgment that God must do all the work.
2. In the second place, when a minister and a congregation offer up this prayer and solemnly enter into its spirit, they mean that, when God raises up such men, they will furnish the means to convey them to the heathen, and support them when they get there.
3. In the third place, when young men utter this prayer, they mean that, if it is the will of God, they are ready to become labourers.
4. Observe, in the last place, that when Christian parents offer up this prayer, they express their willingness that their children should go. (R. Knill.)
Harvest ripeness
It is just to go and gather in Christs sheep that are scattered abroad all over the world. In the notion of a harvest we cannot rid ourselves of the idea of ripeness–and I shall take a twofold view of this. There are some of the Lords family, and it falls to my lot not unfrequently to meet with such in whom we cannot fail to discern the presence of life; their knowledge of themselves as sinners is manifest, their view of Christ as a Saviour is encouraging, and even their reliance upon Him–but there is a want of ripeness, there is a rawness, a greenness, a defectiveness, a youthfulness. The harvest is craning on, beloved; let us look to our ripeness, the ripeness of all our faculties, as exercised in the things of God, the ripeness of all the graces called into full exercise, so that faith shall no longer be like a grain of mustard seed, but like the ripe ear, waving and bending with its weight–so that love shall no longer be faint and glimmering, as if it were but a spark, but fanned to a flame, rising high, and soaring to its native source; so that humility shall no longer be a piece of mockery, something openly expressed but never felt, but that which debases the soul in its own esteem, and keeps it in the dust at the feet of Jesus; so that hope shall not be merely the hope of the hypocrite, but a sure and steadfast thing as the ripeness we speak of–Entering into that within the veil. Moreover, there is a ripeness in grace, and there is a ripeness in sin. The sickle is coming, beloved, and therefore examine which state of ripeness you are in. When God was about to destroy the seven nations of Canaan, and told Moses of His deferring it for a time, while the children of Israel travelled forty years in the wilderness, He gave this as the reason, that the iniquity of the Amorites was not quite full–their sin was not yet completely ripe. Moreover, I saw in some fields some fine heavy corn, which was sadly laid, as they call it, bent down to the ground, and not exposed to the sun, so that it will be a long time before it gets ripe. What a picture of a great number of real Christians! They are so earthbound, so fond of this world, so laid low in their grovelling desires after it, that they cannot be expected to get ripe very fast. That corn gets ripe the fastest that lifts its head the highest, and gets away from the ground and the weeds. Beloved, if you would be ripe Christians, I tell you that you must get it by being lifted above the world and its vanities, enjoying intimacy with God, fellowship with the Most High, aspiring to heaven, and enjoying communications from above. (J. Irons.)
The labourers and the field
Note here–
1. That Gods Church is a harvest field.
2. That the ministers of God are labourers in His harvest, under God, the Lord of the harvest.
3. That to God alone doth it belong to send forth labourers into His harvest, and none must thrust themselves in till God sends them forth.
4. That the number of faithful labourers is comparatively small and few.
5. That it is the Churchs duty to pray, and that earnestly and incessantly, to God the Lord of the harvest, to increase the number of faithful labourers, and to send forth more labourers into His harvest. (W. Burkitt.)
The husbandry of God
1. Great is the harvest.
2. Few are the labourers.
3. God alone can restore the just relation between harvest and labourers. (Van Oosterzee.)
God the Lord of the harvest
1. God determines the time of the harvest.
2. God appoints the labourers for the harvest.
3. God guards the success of the harvest.
4. God deserves the thank-offering of the harvest. (Van Oosterzee.)
The need of immediate workers
Captain Allen Gardiner, on the inhospitable coast of South America, where he slowly perished with hunger, in the hope of attracting the notice of some passing vessel, wrote on the cliff in large letters DELAY NOT, WE ARE STARVING. Years after, the words were seen; but it was too late, the bleached bones of the brave hero of the cross strewed the beach. Help had been delayed, and he had perished. The like cry of a dying world for the Bread of Life, ringing in the ears of the people of God who have enough and to spare, will surely not be much longer unheeded. A few have responded already, but what are these among so many? Oh that we would each one arise and do our utmost daily, expecting to see mighty results now! (J. C. Fullerton.)
A prayer for more labourers
Leonard Keyser, a friend and disciple of Luther, having been condemned by the bishop, had his head shaved, and being dressed in a smock-frock, was placed on horseback. As the executioners were cursing and swearing because they could not disentangle the ropes with which his limbs were to be tied, he said to them mildly, Dear friends, your bonds are not necessary; my Lord Christ has already bound me. When he drew near the stake, Keyser looked at the crowd and exclaimed, Behold the harvest! O Master, send forth Thy labourers! And then ascending the scaffold, he cried, O Jesus, save me! These were his last words. What am I, a wordy preacher, said Luther, when he received the news of his death, in comparison with this great doer of the Word? (J. H. M. DAubigne.)
Christs harvest and Christs reapers
I. CHRIST MEANT HIS SEVENTY DISCIPLES TO GO FORTH AND GATHER THAT WHICH HAD ALREADY GROWN AND RIPENED.
1. He saw a harvest of piety, for instance, waiting for Himself, and the proofs of His Messiahship.
2. I think He saw also another sort of harvest, or another element in that harvest–the moral element. There were many highly moral people living in the world who had become disgusted with religion and its priests.
II. THE CHARACTER OF THE HARVEST-MEN HE EMPLOYED. It is at once painful and disheartening to perceive that He did not select, either as individuals or as a class, the professed teachers of religion, He employed no class of men as such. He dealt only with persons and their individual consciences, and so acting, it is easy to discover the sort of people He could call and use as His harvest-men.
III. AS THESE WERE PEOPLE MORALLY AND SPIRITUALLY LIKE HIMSELF (TO SOME REAL EXTENT AT LEAST), HE WAS RESTRICTED GREATLY IN THE NUMBER OF GATHERERS, AS HE WAS RESTRICTED IN THE METHOD OF INGATHERING TO BE EMPLOYED.
IV. I REMARK UPON THE MODE IN WHICH THE HARVEST WAS TO BE GATHERED. HOW were the pious and the moral to be brought in? I might properly answer, on a principle of natural selection. They were to preach the gospel of Christ, and illustrate, enforce, and commend that gospel by the beauty and perfectness of their own holy lives. They would thus become witnesses for God, as He was a witness for God.
V. TAKE NOW THE PRACTICAL LESSON. Piety in you and me, who profess to be Christs real friends, is to attract whatever piety we come in contact with. There is plenty of unattached piety waiting to be attracted by you and me. The Lord sent out twelve, then seventy. That great world-clasping system we call Christianity had once so few supporters and missionaries.
Do you ask how many it wants now? I will tell you. It wants every man, woman, and child, into whose soul the grace of God has come, that every other life found in the vast field of human activity may be brought with a throb of love and a song of joy, s gathered ear all ripe and golden to the great Lord of the harvest of souls. (J. McDougall.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. That he would send forth] . There seems to be an allusion here to the case of reapers, who, though the harvest was perfectly ripe, yet were in no hurry to cut it down. News of this is brought to the Lord of the harvest the farmer, and he is entreated to exert his authority, and hurry them out; and this he does because the harvest is spoiling for want of being reaped and gathered in. See the notes on Mt 9:37-38.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
See Poole on “Mat 9:37” and See Poole on “Mat 9:38“, where these words are put immediately before the sending out of the twelve. Both the twelve and the seventy, all that Christ ever sent out, were to be labourers in the Lords harvest.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. The harvest, &c.(Seeon Mt 9:37).
pray ye therefore the Lord ofthe harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest(Seeon Mt 9:38).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore said he unto them,…. That is, the “Lord Jesus”, as the Ethiopic version expresses it; he said to the seventy disciples, what he had before said to the twelve apostles in Mt 9:37 where are the same words as here:
the harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labourers into his harvest; for though there was such a number of disciples called to the ministerial work, and sent out, there was still need of more; so great was the harvest of souls, or number of hearers, that the labourers were yet but few; and therefore the Lord of the harvest and whose all souls are, was to be prayed unto to send forth more laborious preachers; [See comments on Mt 9:37].
[See comments on Mt 9:38].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Harvest (). Late word for the older , summer, harvest. The language in this verse is verbatim what we have in Matt 9:37; Matt 9:38 to the Twelve. Why not? The need is the same and prayer is the answer in each case. Prayer for preachers is Christ’s method for increasing the supply.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The harvest [] . From qerov, summer (compare qeromai, to become warm). Harvest, that which is gathered in summer. Wyc., much ripe corn is, but few workmen.
Pray. See on ch. Luk 8:38.
Send forth [] . Lit., drive or thrust forth, implying the urgency of the mission. See on Mr 1:12.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Therefore said he unto them,” (elegen de pros autous) “Then he said directly to them,” to the seventy, advising them upon sending them forth.
2) “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few:” (ho men therismos polus hoi de ergatai oligoi) “The harvest is surely much, yet the workmen are few,” and we are “laborers together with God;” 1Co 3:9; Joh 4:35. The harvest of souls, to be harvested, is great, Rom 3:23; Rom 6:23.
3) “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,” (deethete oun tou kuriou tou therismou) “You all beg (earnestly entreat) the Lord of the harvest,” to whom the harvest belongs. For they are His perishing grain (his property) by creation, and by His daily care of and over them, Eze 18:4; Act 17:28.
4) “That he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” (hopes ergatas ekbale eis ton therismon autou) “That he would thrust forth workmen into the fields,” Luk 18:1. Only God can send, and let none go till he be sent, 2Co 5:20; Mat 28:18-20; Rev 22:17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
2. The harvest is indeed abundant. I have explained this passage under the ninth chapter of Matthew; (32) but it was proper to insert it again in this place, because it is related for a different purpose. In order to stimulate his disciples the more powerfully to apply with diligence to their work, he declares that the harvest is abundant: and hence it follows, that their labor will not be fruitless, but that they will find, in abundance, opportunities of employment, and means of usefulness. He afterwards reminds them of dangers, contests, and annoyances, and bids them go and prepare themselves for traversing with speed the whole of Judea. (33) In short, he repeats the same injunctions which he had given to the Apostles; and, therefore, it would serve no good purpose to trouble the reader here with many words, since a full exposition of all these matters may be found in the passage already quoted. We may notice briefly, however, the meaning of that expression, salute no man by the way. It indicates extreme haste, when, on meeting a person in the way, we pass on without speaking to him, lest he should detain us even for a short time. Thus, when Elisha sent his servant to the Shunamite woman, he charged him not to salute any person whom he met:
if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer not again, (2Kg 4:31.)
Christ does not intend that his disciples shall be so unkind (34) as not to deign to salute persons whom they meet, but bids them hasten forward, so as to pass by every thing that would detain them.
(32) Harmony, volume 1 p. 421.
(33) “ Et leur commande d’aller alaigrement et en diligence, a fin que bien tost ils ayent fait une course par tout le pays de Iudee;” — “and commands them to go with alacrity and diligence, that they may soon have performed a circuit through the whole country of Judea.”
(34) “ Si inhumains et mal-gracieux;” — “so barbarous and uncivil.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) The harvest truly is great.See Note on Mat. 9:37. The verses that follow contain, as might have been expected from the analogous circumstances, much in common with those spoken on the mission of the Twelve. We have here, as in the sermons on the Mount and on the Plain, an example of our Lords repeating the expression of the same thoughts in nearly the same language.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And he said to them, “The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the labourers are few, pray you therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his harvest.” ’
This is the kind of statement that we might well expect Jesus to continually repeat, especially if He saw it as a kind of commissioning. This latter is easily possible for it occurs at the appointment of the twelve (see Mat 9:37-38), and now at the appointment here, and is very suitable for a commissioning which has in mind continual expansion. They are not to see their appointment as just for this mission but as permanent and lasting, and as committing them in the long term. It gave them a vision of what would be. They are to see their own going forth as but a prelude to others going forth in larger numbers, something for which they had to pray.
He is thus here urging them to pray for the sending forth of more labourers, to follow up their own work. In a sense it is an amplifying and making practical of the prayer ‘May your Kingly Rule come’ (Luk 11:2) describing how it is to come by many evangelists going out in the name of Jesus. Matthew has it in an earlier context (Mat 9:37-38) at the time of the call of the twelve. But it was probably the constant burden on Jesus’ heart, repeated whenever men were commissioned to go out (there were probably a number of these evangelistic forays). He was seeking continually to pass on the urgency of its message to His disciples. He wanted them constantly to recognise that there was an abundant harvest waiting to be gathered in, but that there was a shortage of labourers (compare Joh 4:35-38). And this shortage was so, for He was constantly seeking to recruit more (Luk 9:57-62). But He would only do so if they came up to His standards. In the end it was left in His Father’s hands. It is the first instance we have which indicates that He longed for more evangelists.
He had previously urged this prayer on the early disciples (Mat 9:37-38) and it had been answered to the extent that there were now seventy. So now He urges the seventy to pray for a further extension in their numbers. They too are to ask ‘the Lord of the harvest’ to send forth more labourers into His harvest. There were so many to be reached and so few to reach them, and He was conscious that the time was short. It was also another way of impressing on them the importance of their task, and the speed that was necessary in its accomplishment.
The reference to the final harvest confirms that He sees these as ‘the last days’. That was when the final harvest was to be gathered in (Isa 27:12; Joe 3:13 LXX; Amo 9:13; Hos 10:12; Mat 3:10-12; Luk 3:9; Luk 3:16-17; Luk 10:9-15). The theme of spiritual fruitfulness and harvest is a common one in Scripture.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Luk 10:2 . Comp. Mat 9:37 f. First of all, Christ makes them apprehend the greatness of their task, and (Luk 10:3 ) their risk, and then gives them (Luk 10:4 ff.) rules of conduct. [128]
] notwithstanding your numbers, ye are still far from sufficient [129] (Euthymius Zigabenus)!
] In this is contained the importance, the urgency of the mission: should drive forth (comp. on Mar 1:12 ; 1Ma 12:27 ).
[128] But the prohibition against going to the heathens and the Samaritans, Mat 5:5 , He does not give to the Seventy, and that for the simple reason that they had precisely to make the journey only as it was definitely marked out to them in ver. 1 (through Galilee). For this that prohibition would not have been at all appropriate.
[129] According to Weiss, Jesus, in respect of , must have thought originally of Himself, while Luke thought of the Twelve. The former view contradicts the words of the passage, the latter the context. But that the discourse was originally addressed to the Twelve does not follow from Luk 22:35 , for the passage there alluded to is to be sought in Luk 9:3 (although with certain coincidences from Luk 10:4 ).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
Ver. 2. See Mat 9:37 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2. ] See Mat 9:37 and notes.
If were read, the pres. , as usual, would have the force of the continually repeated act: as it is, the aor. (as in [84] Matt.) indicates the whole mission , considered as one great act.
[84] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25 , the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified , thus, ‘ Mk.,’ or ‘ Mt. Mk.,’ &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 10:2-12 . The instructions .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Luk 10:2 . : preliminary statement as to the need of men fit to take part in the work of preaching the kingdom, as in Mat 9:38 , vide notes there; a true logion of Jesus, whensoever spoken.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
unto. Greek. pros. App-104. Not the same word as in verses: Luk 10:9, Luk 10:11.
pray. Greek. deomai. App-134. Implying the senseof need.
would = may.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2.] See Mat 9:37 and notes.
If were read, the pres., as usual, would have the force of the continually repeated act: as it is, the aor. (as in [84] Matt.) indicates the whole mission, considered as one great act.
[84] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25, the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified, thus, Mk., or Mt. Mk., &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
The harvest: Mat 9:37, Mat 9:38, Joh 4:35-38, 1Co 3:6-9
the labourers: Mat 20:1, Mar 13:34, 1Co 15:10, 2Co 6:1, Phi 2:25, Phi 2:30, Col 1:29, Col 4:12, 1Th 2:9, 1Th 5:12, 1Ti 4:10, 1Ti 4:15, 1Ti 4:16, 1Ti 5:17, 1Ti 5:18, 2Ti 2:3-6, 2Ti 4:5, Phm 1:1
are: 1Ki 18:22, 1Ki 22:6-8, Isa 56:9-12, Eze 34:2-6, Zec 11:5, Zec 11:17, Mat 9:36, Act 16:9, Act 16:10, Phi 2:21, Rev 11:2, Rev 11:3
pray: 2Th 3:1
the Lord: Luk 9:1, Num 11:17, Num 11:29, Psa 68:11, Jer 3:15, Mar 16:15, Mar 16:20, Act 8:4, Act 11:19, Act 13:2, Act 13:4, Act 20:28, Act 22:21, Act 26:15-18, 1Co 12:28, Eph 4:7-12, 1Ti 1:12-14, Heb 3:6, Rev 2:1
Reciprocal: Num 27:19 – give him Isa 62:1 – Zion’s Act 1:21 – these Act 8:40 – he preached 2Ti 2:6 – husbandman
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2
There were so many people who needed help that neither Jesus or any other man could be bodily present with all of them. That is what he meant by saying the harvest is plentious but the laborers are few, and prayed that they might increase.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 10:2. See on Mat 9:37, where the same thought precedes the sending out of the Twelve.
Send forth. Literally cast forth, implying urgency.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Note here,
1. That God’s church is an harvest field.
2. That the ministers of God are laborers in his harvest, under God the Lord of the harvest.
3. That to God alone it does belong to send forth laborers into his harvest, and none must thrust themselves in, until God sends them forth: Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers.
4. That the number of faithful laborers is comparatively small and few: the scribes and Pharisees in the Jewish harvest field are many; yet, says Christ, The laborers are few.
5. That it is the church’s duty to pray, and that earnestly and incessantly, to God the Lord of the harvest, to increase the number of faithful laborers; and to send forth more laborers into his harvest.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vers. 2-16. The Discourse.
It falls into two parts: Instructions for the mission (Luk 10:2-12), and warnings to the cities of Galilee (Luk 10:13-16).
The instructions first explain the reason of this mission (Luk 10:2); then the conduct to be observed on setting out and during the journey (Luk 10:3-4), at the time of arrival (Luk 10:5-6); during their sojourn in the case of a favourable reception (Luk 10:7-9); finally, on their departure in the case of rejection (Luk 10:10-12).
Ver. 2.Therefore said He unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest. Matthew has this utterance in chap. 9, in presence of the Galilean multitudes, and as an introduction to the sending of the Twelve. Bleek himself acknowledges that it is better placed by Luke. The field is the world, Jesus had said in the parable of the sower. It is to this vast domain that the very strong words of this verse naturally apply, recalling the similar words, Joh 4:35 : Look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest, uttered in Samaria, and on the threshold, as it were, of the Gentile world. The sending of the new labourers is the fruit of the prayers of their predecessors. The prep. in , thrust forth, may signify, forth from the Father’s house, from heaven, whence real callings issue; or, forth from the Holy Land, whence the evangelization of the Gentiles was to proceed. Following on the idea of prayer, the first meaning is the more natural.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Jesus’ first instruction to the Seventy was that they pray (cf. 1Ti 2:1-8). Jesus gave His disciples the same instructions on another occasion (cf. Mat 9:37-38). The harvest figure is common in Scripture, and it pictures God gathering His elect (cf. Mat 13:37-43; et al.). In this context it referred to gathering believers in Jesus out from the mass of unbelievers to whom the Seventy would go. When He said that the harvest was plentiful, Jesus meant that there was much work to do to bring the gospel of the kingdom to everyone. His disciple messengers were few in proportion to the large task. Therefore the disciples needed to pray God to send every qualified messenger out into the "field" and that none would fail to participate in this mission. Thus this verse expresses Jesus’ desire for more workers and for full participation by the workers who were available.